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DEVELOPING THE 
AMERICAN FARM BOY 



AN ADDRESS 



FRED H. RANKIN, 

Superintendent Aericultural CoUeere Extension, University of Illinois, Urbana, 

BBFOREl THX: 

NORTHERN ILLINOIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
AT HARVARD, DECEMBER 7, 1905. 



CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, 

URBANA. 



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*3 



DEVELOPING THE AMERICAN FARM BOY 



An address by Fred H. Eankin, Superintendent of Agricultural Col- 
lege Extension, University of Illinois, at Urbana. 

Delivered before the Northern Illinois Horticultural Society, at Har- 
vard, December 7, 1905. 



A time comes in every young boy's life when he hears, 
amid the first stirring of his soul, the questions: "What 
next?" "Where is my place?" "What can I do?" 

These are likely to be lonely hours in the day-dawn of 
young manhood; certainly no period is more important. He 
feels himself in a world before he had anything to say about 
it. He gets to thinking that the good places are all filled, 
and he will have hard, if not impossible work to push him- 
self into anything w^orth working at. It seems to him — as 
has been occasionally expressed to me — that he is almost an 
intruder, that no one wants him. If any young man here 
this evening feels that v/ay, I have a message for him, and 
I wish your attention in a talk regarding the American 
Farmer Boy, — what is in him and what surely awaits his 
grasp just before him, if he has a hearty welcoming readi- 
ness for a best future. 

The most active period of all the world's activities is now 
waiting — as near as this busy world can wait about any- 
thing — peering anxiously into and along the ranks of all 
young men for those WHO KNOW HOW. 



2 

LIVING IN A DIFFERENT AGE 

We are living in an age different from that in which our 
fathers and grandfathers lived and acted. The exacting de- 
mands of business in commercial, professional and other lines 
are different. This is an age in which the processes of labor 
are first thought out before the work begins if the laborer 
counts for much. And this being true it devolves upon the 
farmer boys to fit themselves for the business of farming, 
training themselves for it just as do their brothers who go 
into the professions. 

Do you remember that mobto in the old copybook, "Work 
is the engine which draws the car of success"? Now, while 
this is a very good motto yet in this age it can be improved 
upon for hard work alone will not always bring success. 
Let me draw a word picture for you: Suppose that we have 
standing upon the railroad track a huge car which we will 
call "success." In front of the car stands a powerful loco- 
motive which we will call "work." Is the picture complete? 
Is the train ready to move? Yes, it can, but only to wreck 
and disaster without the skilled engineer in the cab of that 
engine, his hand upon the lever, his eye looking ahead, his 
brain alert for emergencies. Over him let us print in big 
letters the word "thought." Now we have the corrected 
motto which reads, "Thought is the skilled engineer who 
directs the engine, work, which draws the car success." 

In short it is well directed thinking labor that pays. 
Young man, this is an age when all kinds of successful busi- 
ness must be thought out before being worked out, and that 
means the active exercise of the head as well as the hands 
of anyone engaged thus. The world is full of fairly good 
workers; excellent workers are scarce. It is not enough for 
a young man to say he will "try to do his best" but he must 
do the work given him to do, and do it thoroughly and com- 
pletely. It is not a question of trying to do the best, but of 
actually doing the best. In short, to you young men going 
out into the world's work, it is a case of "Fish, cut bait, or 
get ashore." 



A well trained mind is fundamental to success, A mind 
trained to concentrated study, to careful analysis of the sub- 
ject in hand and to be content with nothing short of the com- 
plete mastery of it is the best equipment for business life a 
young man can possess. 

It is vigorous thought which counts. The mind must be 
trained to exactitude. You must seize and grasp with all 
your might the thing you are undertaking and do it with 
vigor and enthusiasm if you wish your work to bear the stamp 
of superiority when completed. 

The average young man needs to think less of his clothes 
and cigarettes and amusements and to fix his attention more 
upon the development of his thinking powers rather than 
let his brain rust and be idle. It is of vastly greater moment 
to develop the creases in the gray matter of the brain than 
it is to have a perfectly creased pair of trousers. 

CHARACTER REVEALED BY THOROUGHNESS OF WORK 

Remember that doin g the work well is all that is neces- 
sary to make the humblest occupation honorable. It matters 
little whether you raise corn or apples, peg shoes or write 
books, doing it thoroughly well should be your true ambition. 
Such an ideal is a sure character builder. Nothing reveals 
character so much as the way in which you as boy or man do 
your work. A botched job shows the poor workman, while 
a good piece of work gives an impress for strength and mas- 
terfulness, advancing the worker towards better positions. 

The fact that one young man may make a complete fail- 
ure of his school w^ork or business while another may take up 
the same work or business and make a success of it, plainly 
indicates that there is something in the man or the way a 
man gets at and pushes things, as w^ell as in the institution and 
the method. In fact, almost everything rests with the man. 
This is my reason for urging you j^oung men to bend every 
energy in acquiring the right kind of ideals for your start in 
life. The ability to do hard work, to think clearly and add 
to your manhood by honesty of purpose and integrity of work. 



will: secure the confidence of all who have to do with you and 
you will not only win success, but what is more, royally de- 
serve it. 

Edison was once asked to define genius. He replied, 
"Two percent is genius and ninety-eight percent is hard 
work." Again he was asked if he did not think that genius 
was inspiration. He replied, "No, genius is not inspiration; 
it is perspiration." 

YOUTH COMES BUT ONCE 

It is my aim in speaking these earnest words to you, to 
more thoroughly awaken the young men to the fact that youth 
com.es but once, and the pathway of life is only trodden once, 
therefore it is all-important before taking up the chief work 
of life to be fitted for it the best you can. Now, is not the 
farm boy worth educating just as much as is the boy who 
lives in town? I speak of the farm boy v/ho will go back to 
the farm, for in the large majority of cases these boys will 
remain upon the farm both by reason of environment and 
choice. The time is near a.t ha^nd when the influx from the 
country to the cities will stop and turn back to the country, 
and we are in this country coming rapidly to that condition 
which prevails in Europe where the true aristocracy resides 
on the farms. 

I do not advocate that every boy who was born and 
reared upon a farm should remain there regardless of likes 
and adaptability, any more than that the boy who was born 
near a corner drug store should become a druggist. I be- 
lieve that so far as possible every young person should fol- 
low the lead of his inclination and adaptability. We believe 
in encouraging the young men who expect to farm to be good 
farmers and to fit themselves for the business of farming just 
as would their brothers who take up the professions. Thus 
is being developed a class of men true and tolerant and use- 
ful in the home and potential in public affairs. Let us not 
forget to quicken the aspirations of these young people by 
endeavoring to carry the thought of culture and higher educa- 



tion into the farm homes, thus giving them a glimpse of the 
greater things that contribute most effectually and directly to 
agricultural prosperity. It is not necessary for a man to live 
like a hog in order to successfully raise a hog, and I believe 
that we are going to realize this more and more. 

THE COUNTRY SCHOOL AND ITS RELATION TO THE FARM BOY 

I take it that you will all agree with me in the general 
statement that boys on the farm should be educated, but the 
speaker takes the ground that the country schools, which 
are often the farmers' preparatory and finishing schools, 
should consider more fully the environment and probable 
future life of the pupils, and while these young people are in 
leading strings, so to speak, there should be some recogni- 
tion of the life which they are to follow. The district schools 
recruit the academies; the colleges recruit the universi- 
ties, and they in turn have been recruiting every profes- 
sion under the sun except farming. Out of these train- 
ing schools should come back to the farms a constant 
stream of healthy life especially instructed for agricultural 
interests. 

The majority of workers in this state are engaged in ag- 
riculture; the environment of their children is rural. But, 
the dominant question is not expansion in acres or national 
possessions, but rather expansion of brain, skill and judg- 
ment of these farm boys. Am I asking too much when I 
plead for the co-operation of the rural school teachers that 
their instruction be based somewhat in harmony with the 
calling w^hich the majority of their pupils must eventually 
engage in and thus make their influence at least correlative 
with the Vv'ork of the Agricultural College of our state. 

All about our school buildings are objects of intense in- 
terest to the average human being but in many cases I fear 
that the average country school teacher of today is as indif- 
ferent to these objects as though the school were in a great 
city. Why cannot these boys be instructed along lines 
which will enable them to devote some time to the intelligent 



6 

observation of the natural objects about them? A growing 
corn plant, the root development of a clover plant are ob- 
jects of keenest interest to children whether living in the 
city or the country. 

There are at least a few scientific terms which should be 
as familiar to the farmer boy as the multiplication table is; 
they are such as the elements which go to make up food 
ration — i)rotein, carbohydrates; or the essential elements of 
soil fertility — nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, etc. These 
terms are neither harder to understand nor use than "minu- 
end," "subtrahend," "greatest common divisor," "aliquot 
parts," "conjunctive adverb," etc., words which are rarely 
used outside of the school room, yet are daily drilled into the 
children as though vital to their existence. 

I do not advocate that our schools should teach practical 
farming or very much agriculture, but they can teach many 
things about crops, soils, animals, foodstuffs, trees, etc., 
which will help to make more practical farmers and will help 
to make all who live in the country have a keen appreciation 
of rural life and its opportunities. To lead up to this work: 
I believe that it is possible for a teacher to interest the boys 
in legumes and plants which are more fascinating than any 
novel can be. The following suggestions are offered: Get 
the boys to carefully dig up some clover roots and show 
them the tubercles or nodules wherein the bacteria are at 
work; explain how the roots of these legumes are little labo- 
ratories, as it w^ere, and how countless bacteria can entrap 
the nitrogen from the air and make it available as an ele- 
ment of fertility to the growing crop. Explain how four- 
fifths of the air we breathe is pure nitrogen; and how sus- 
pended over every square inch of the earth there are about 
12 pounds of nitrogen, worth from 14 to 15 cents per pound; 
and how over every acre of land there are 38,000 tons of 
this the most costly element of soil fertility, w^orth over $11, 
000,000. 

Then take up the wonderful possibilities of the corn plant 
and explain how from it are manufactured over seventy dis- 
tinct commercial products; how the very rubber boots that 



he wears through the mud were largely made from the corn 
plant; the syrup he eats on his cakes, and the taffy he gives 
his best girl, — all of these things are largely produced from 
this cereal. In this way his interest may be aroused. All 
these things may be taught in the school room, thus inter- 
esting the boys in the commercial side of crop production. 

EDUCATION FOR VOCATION 

The object of ail this is to teach these boys observation; 
to teach them to think more concerning the work which they 
are doing, and to impress upon them that they may be edu- 
cated for their life work. Inspire the boys with the thought 
that above all things they must get an education; an educa- 
tion for practical use and vocation rather than for culture's 
sake alone. Encourage them to get a portion of that educa- 
tion in the College of Agriculture, even if they cannot do 
better than take the Two Weeks' Course in Agriculture which 
every year is offered to the farmers and the farmers' sons. 
They will thus have inspiration to study books and bulletins 
and literature bearing upon their business. No young man 
who expects to farm can afford to miss the opportunities af- 
forded by the Illinois College of Agriculture. Any boy who 
is 16 3^ears of age and can read and speak the English lan- 
guage may take up work in this college. He may begin at 
any time of the year, but of course it is more advantageous 
to start in at the beginning of the semester or half semester 
periods. 

There are more than eighty different courses offered in 
this institution. The latch-string of the College of Agri- 
culture hangs out to every boy and girl. Through the 
scholarships offered by the Farmers' Institutes the tuition is 
free. To every young man comes this personal question, 
"Will you embrace the opportunity to go forward to a higher, 
nobler, and better farming?" Look into this opportunity to 
educate yourself directly in your business and not away from 
it. There is smaller sphere for the uneducated man in each 
succeeding decade, and a diminishing possibility of success 



8 

for the man who does not read and think. I have only dis- 
couragement to suggest to those who pass that way. The 
reading and thinking man is in the saddle. The thinking 
man is guiding our Nation's destinies. Only that which is 
alive can impart life. 

Vrith the changing conditions we are fast coming to see 
that these farmer boys should be made more capable to suc- 
cessfully meet the demands of their calling. Hundreds of 
young farmers are educating themselves in their business 
in the same sense as would be considered necessary were they 
to becom.e successful doctors, lawyers, bankers, or manufac- 
i^urers. This is the most cheering outlook of the young 
century. 

GIVE THE BOYS A SQUARE DEAL 

Now, are you older people and parents living up to your 
privileges? You hear someone say, "I never attended an 
agricultural college, and what was good enough for me is 
good enough for my boys." Now, is that giving the boys a 
•'square deal"? You certainly want your boys to advance 
and improve. In your day perhaps there were no agricul- 
tural colleges to speak of; they have been largely developed 
in recent years. Therefore I plead with you to look into the 
matter and do not neglect to give your boys the opportunity 
to get the information in a practical way which will be of in- 
calculable value to them in after life. 

How many of you farmers tnke the time to take your sons 
out to the orchard and explain to them carefully and pains- 
takingly the details of pruning, budding, and grafting; how 
to prepare and apply a spray mixture; the setting out of 
orchards and small fruits? How many of you stockmen take 
your boys with you when you go to buy a carload of cattle, 
or a breeding animal, and explain to them all those various 
points which you as practical and successful stockmen know 
that these animals must have if they are to return profit to 
you? You know these points; probably you have learned 
them from the hard knocks of experience, but you are not 



9 

trained to tell about them. You cannot impart such infor- 
mation toothers, even to your own sons, as well as can the 
man who has been trained to do so. The man who was edu- 
cated in a special line and has had practical experience in that 
line — and perhaps he has had as much experience as your- 
self no matter how well you may be posted — yes, that man is 
more capable to impart such Icnowledge; that is his business; 
he has been brought up and trained to do that very thing. 
You have that kind of men at the College of Agriculture to- 
day. For instance, in Horticulture, you know that there are 
no better posted men both theoretically and practically, than 
Professors Blair, Lloyd, and Crandall, Dr. Burrill and Dr. 
Forbes; these men are experts in their respective lines. 

I refer to the men connected with the Department of Hor- 
ticulture because you are familiar with them, but you may be 
assured that in the Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy 
Husbandry departments there are men who are just as worthy 
of your confidence, — such men as Dean Davenport, Dr. Hop- 
kins, Professors Mumford and Fraser, and many others whom 
I could name. You can send your son here to the Agricultural 
College and if he can remain but a few weeks he will get an 
inspiration from his association and contact with these men. 
I confidently claim that in six months' time the boy, if he is 
of the right sort, can get more practical information along 
given lines — horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying, etc., 
than he could get in as many years at home, learning by the 
hard knocks of experience, 

WHAT IT IS TO STUDY AGRICULTURE IN A COLLEGE 

We try to inculcate in these boys a thirst for informa- 
tion, all the time keeping their feet upon the ground, as it 
were, and to teach them the true dignity of labor, which is 
the dominant thought of the College of Agriculture. About 
half of a boy's time is devoted to practically carrying out the 
theories he gets in the class room. For instance, he studies 
principles or theories of stock judging, and then goes into 
the stock judging room and looks over the specimens of dif- 



10 

ferent breeds which he has been studying about, and under 
the direction of an expert applies the knowledge thus gained. 

If a boy has a special interest in some phase of horticul- 
ture, for instance, fruit growing, he is not only taught the 
theories of the subject from a botanical standpoint and those 
things which pertain to scientific horticulture, but he is 
taken into the laboratory or out to the field in the busy sea- 
son where he is engaged in budding, grafting, pruning the 
trees, or studying the effect of spraying upon insects and 
fungous diseases. He learns to judge fruit a^id to identify 
tlie different varieties, thus creating an interest in garden- 
ing and orchards. 

He is taught how to grow and take care of small fruits 
and vegetables; how to prune grape vines; how to select a 
site for an orchard; how to prune and graft trees after they 
are planted,— with the why and wherefore of all this so far 
as known. 

He is also given enough practice in treatment of neg- 
lected fruit trees to understand the work of renovating the 
home orchard when he leaves the University. He is taught 
ornamental landscape gardening with special reference to 
beautifying the home surroundings. 

A LIVING BUT SILENT WITNESS 

Again students are taught not only concerning the ef- 
fects of injudicious cropping and how these broad and fertile 
prairies of ours will become depleted if not properly handled, 
but they are shown many object lessons as well. There 
stands one field upon which nothing but corn has been grown 
continuously for 29 years. Last year the yield on this ground 
was about 19 bushels to the acre. In another plot, the same 
kind of soil, where corn and oats had been rotated for the 
same length of time, the yield was 44 bushels of corn to the 
acre. On the third piece of ground where rotation of corn, 
oats and clover v/as practiced, the yield was 59 bushels of 
corn to the acre. And still another plot, which had been 
handled according to the best known methods, produced 96 
bushels to the acre. 



11 

Now do not make the mistake that one farmer did who 
visited the College of Agriculture last year and ridiculed 
that poor field of corn. He said if the farmers of the state 
raised corn like that they would have to quit the business. 
You will understand of course that that field of poor corn 
stood there as a living but silent witness of the effect of con- 
stant or injudicious cropping. That is the way these great 
fertile prairies of ours would look after they had been farmed 
for generations by men who did not read and think. 

Every day in the year is full of interest at the College 
of Agriculture. Every month is a principal one to the stu- 
dents there. Hundreds of experiments are constantly in prog- 
ress and in all stages of completion. There are many ex- 
periments under way of which you will probably see but little. 
They are designed for use a quarter of a century from now. 
The student or visitor cannot fail to get some hints or facts 
which will be suggestive to him the rest of his life. Surely 
it is worth a day's journey and the spending of a few dollars 
to send your boy to this school where he may see what it 
has taken theUniversity a quarter of a century to demonstrate. 

YOUNG MEN STUDY FARM MACHINERY 

Probably your boy has an aptitude for machinery. If 
so, he can go into the wood shop and forge room and get the 
practical knowledge of how all kinds of carpenter work and 
blacksmithing should be done, and how to handle these tools; 
he can go into the farm mechanics laboratory and study farm 
machinery to his heart's content. That there is a demand 
for young men trained for this work is evident from the fact 
that last season 24 young men who had received special 
training in farm mechanics went out from the University in 
the employ of different harvester companies. They started 
out in May, spending the time from then until school com- 
menced in September following the harvest season from the 
southern states into the extreme north, putting up and doing 
expert work with harvesting machinery. These young men 
got from $40 to $50 per month and their expenses paid. A 



12 

number of these boys were working their way through 
school, but had been especially trained here and knew how 
to put up machinery; they had worked for days and weeks 
with these machines when properly adjusted and when im- 
properly adjusted, studying all their intricate parts. In one 
of their examinations they were required to take apart three 
binders, a Dcering, a McCormick and a Champion, leaving 
them in smaller pieces then when the machines came from 
the factories, throw them all in one pile, and, more rapidly 
than you or I could handle scrap iron, they sorted out the 
pieces, threw them in three separate piles, put the machines 
together, turned on the power and had them running. These 
boys were experts; they were trained to do something; in 
short they KNEY/ HOW and then they found that there was a 
demand for young men who had that very kind of training. 
The "KNOA¥ HOYv^" man need never be idle. 

ATTENDANCE AT THE UNIVERSITY 

The attendance at the College of Agriculture is very 
much increased. Seven years ago there were only 19 stu- 
dents here; the enrollment this year numbers 430 persons. 
The whole University of Illinois has an enrollment of more 
than 4000 students, 100 of the 102 counties of our state being 
represented and also 43 states of the Union and 13 foreign 
countries. More than 400 instructors devote their entire 
time to instructional work in the different departments. So 
you see the University of this state is cosmopolitan. It draws 
upon the whole world, as it were, not only for its instructors, 
but for its student body, and is an institution of which we 
Illinois people may feel justly proud. You have paid for it 
and you should use it for yourselves and your sons to the 
fullest possible manner. 

As I said before, we are trying to inculcate in these boys 
a love for the soil and an appreciation of the dignity of labor. 
It is the aspiration of every American boy to own his own 
home, and if there is any one thing especially taught to the 
boys by environment and in the College of Agriculture it is 
the appreciation and value of hard work and careful thinking 
as contributing factors in their life work. 



13 

My young friends you are soon to face the problem of 
self-support, and I believe that the majority of you would 
prefer to remain your own masters and enjoy the indepen- 
dence of your own homes. It is the aspiration of every 
American boy to own some land and spend money in improv- 
ing and beautifying his home. Now, if you had some older 
friend who had made a pronounced success of farming would 
it not be worth your while to spend some time associating 
with him and learning what he knows about work in stock 
feeding, rotation of crops, systematic farm management and 
the like? 

We recognize that experience is a dear school. Ccin you 
afford to spend years learning methods which are well 
known perhaps only a few miles from your own home? The 
Agricultural College of which I have been speaking is in 
close touch with practical farming everywhere so that its 
ideas of instruction and advice are of general and not merely 
local value. Why not acquire these ideas and profit by 
them? Why not spend a few months or a year or two at the 
College Oi Agriculture of your state? 

It is our object to acquaint the boys with facts and prin- 
ciples and the ability to use them, taking the stand that a 
portion of a boy's education should be drawn out of the sub- 
ject matter of his profession and that it is a mistake to edu- 
cate a boy without the slightest reference to matters which 
he will be expected to know when he comes to be a man. 

There are a great variety of interests from beginning 
to end of an Agricultural College course. While the young 
men are growing deft and skillful with their hands, they are 
thinking clearer and the desire and thirst for knov/ledge 
grows as the way to get it is pointed out to them. Not only 
are their hands and intellects trained, but with the right kind 
of sensible, level-headed boys their hearts grow more kindly 
and tolerant through social and intellectual intercourse as 
they rub up against each other and they realize that the\^ 
are building the best that can be received in this life, which 
is true manly character. 

It is not the aim of Asiricultural College training to 



14 

pound a lot of knowledge into a boy's head which may or 
may not be of practical use to him afterwards, but rather to 
fill him with a boundless enthusiasm and set before him high 
ideals, intellectual and moral. Agricultural education pays 
in dollars and cents, in desirable positions, in opportunities 
for promotion, in usefulness, influence and happiness. A 
better knowledge of the science of agriculture and modern 
practices is essential to the highest achievement in success- 
ful farming. 

SUGGESTIONS TO THE YOUNG MAN DESIRING AN EDUCATION 

Now, a definite word of suggestion to these young men 
before me: You perhaps have heard it said that an educa- 
tion vv-ould unfit you for the farm. I know there are some 
so-ca.lled "educations" that might do so. But I want to as- 
sure you that a real education, a bringing out of native facul- 
ties, which trains the eye to see, the hand to work and the mind 
to perceive the trutli in all things will never unfit any man 
for the farm who is fit to be a farmer. The College of Ag- 
riculture can show you such students every semester. 

Your success in getting this sort of an education which 
will be of practical value to you will depend primarily upon 
what sort of a boy you are, how hungry you are for knowl- 
edge, how willing you are to apply yourself, and upon the 
natural strength of your mind. If you have not already 
gotten all you can from the schools near your home, let me 
suggest that you devote the next year or two to mastering 
thoroughly the subjects taught in that school. Get on good 
terms with your teachers and get their help. Send to the 
Agricultural College at Urbana, for a catalog of the College 
and bulletins from tlie Experiment Station. Ask for sug- 
gestions as regards books to read. There are men connected 
with this College whose business it is to attend to such things 
and they are only too glad to help you. Keep your mind 
constantly at work in this direction. Remember that noth- 
ing can keep you from getting an education, and we want 
you to get the education which will bring out the very best 



15 

that is in you, but remember that you must GET YOUR 
EDUCATION YOURSELF. No book, no teacher, no col- 
lege instructor can educate you; you must educate j^ourself. 
Neither money, nor position, nor teacher, nor college can 
give development of mind and real education except you 
have a determination to appropriate these opportunities. 
Yes, it is "up to you." 

If financial difficulties stand in your way put your wits to 
work and get money enough during the next year or two to 
get started in College. Work extra time and raise some crop; 
do the work yourself and pay rent for the land, if need be; 
sell the crop and with the money buy some pigs, or sheep; 
fatten and sell these and in this way start a fund to be used 
for books and to pay your way for a year or two in the Col- 
lege of Agriculture. 

THE PURPOSE OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE EXTENSION 

I believe that most farm boys sincerely desire to better 
their prospects and become useful men. The trouble is they 
sometimes do not know just how to go about it. To aid in 
starting them right and to make their ])athway plainer and 
easier is the object of Agricultural College Extension. This 
work has in view the bringing of the educational forces of 
our State Institution in touch with the largest number of boys 
living upon Illinois farms and inducing them to avail them- 
selves of the advantages of higher education in agriculture 
and other lines. 

Much of our work is done in co-operation with the Farm- 
ers' Institutes in their corn growing and corn judging con- 
tests. Through the medium^ of excursion parties which are 
encouraged to visit the University, many parents come here 
and bring their children and personally investigate the op- 
portunities offered at the University. Who can tell the 
thoughts that run through the minds of these young people 
when they first go through the College halls? I know that 
they return to their homes with a new incentive for diligent 
work. 



16 

We have a list of the names of several thousand boys 
and girls with whom we are in direct correspondence and to 
whom we send literature concerning the College and Station 
work. 

In short, the leading features of the work of College Ex- 
tension are: Personal correspondence, personally visiting 
the homes of these young people, the organization of young 
people's experimental clubs, and excursion parties to visit 
the University. 

You older people may recall how a few words of encour- 
agement and sympathy helped you in your life, and this work 
gives an introduction, as it were, and enables the young 
people to come more gracefully into College life and helps 
them to meet the demands which are made upon them. 
Briefly, the results which attend this work are as follows; 

First — An interest in agriculture is awakened early in 
life. 

Second — A marked increase in the attendance at the 
College of Agriculture. 

Third — The better preparation of the students. 

Fourth — A more general appreciation among young 
people upon the farm of the advantages of higher education 
in all lines. 

Fifth — A wider and more intelligent conception of what 
the College of Agriculture and the University are doing and 
of their needs. 

There is much about this work which cannot be tabu- 
lated or expressed in words or figures, but it is evident that 
fruit has been borne along the lines mentioned and the belief 
is cherished that what has been accomplished is but a fraction 
of what is bound to follow the cumulative effects of this line 
of work. 

Sometimes a single letter or a half-hour's conversation 
contains the destiny of a life. To give one concrete instance: 
Not long ago I visited a farm home in which were four boys, 
the oldest about 20 years of age. He was a senior in the high 
school and expected to take a course in electrical engineering. 
His brother had been out of school for two years and told me 



17 

that he expected to follow farming and did not believe that an 
education outside of the district school would be of value to 
him. The family was not familiar with the work of the Col- 
lege of Agriculture, although well informed upon general 
topics. After supper we lighted a lantern and got some 
corn which we scored for the boys, and told them of the 
work of the College of Agriculture, how we judged live stock, 
something of the work in the wood shop, forge room, farm 
mechanics laboratory, etc. They were interested and we sat 
up until late in the night discussing the advantages of an ed- 
ucated over an uneducated man. The next morning the 
father thanked me for my visit and promised to bring his 
two sons to visit the College of Agriculture. They came dur- 
ing the next summer's vacation. We spent the day in show- 
ing them over the grounds and through the buildings of the 
University. As a result the oldest boy came to enter the 
Engineering School and his brother came with him to enter 
the College of Agriculture where he expects to spend at least 
two years. Then, there were two younger boys in that fam- 
ily who will be influenced by that evening's visit. DID IT 
PAY? 

To the older ones in this audience I would say, were you 
privileged to return to your childhood days could you not 
with the knowledge which the years have brought, give a 
more certain trend to the acts of that period? And yet to 
you as friends, teachers or parents, there comes the oppor- 
tunity to place yourselves in a measure beside this latter-day 
child, the farm boy, and by words of sympathy and encour- 
agement lead him to that higher plane of which true man- 
hood is the summit. 

THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER 

I have spoken earnestly and positively along these lines, 
for, if you will allow a personal reference, all my life was 
spent upon a farm until four years ago, and I know whereof 
I speak. Remember that after all the greatest success lies 
not in the mere making of money, or in making a great stir 



18 

in the world, but rather it consists in the building up around 
this personality which incloses the body, of true and manly 
character. In that alone comes peace and happiness. Re- 
member that your acts are immortal through their effect up- 
on the world and upon others. Try to live so that others 
may be lifted up by you. 

V/e Americans love our homes, and we want to make 
them the best homes in the world. We know that in order 
to make this Nation stronger and wiser true homes must be 
built up. We must teach and educate these farm boys that 
to be strong, clean, honest, true men is to find the best her- 
itage that can be given to a man, and with a head to will, a 
brain to plan, and a hand to do, means the best of attainment. 

And now I am done. I have taxed your patience, but it 
has been a pleasure to talk to you and you have helped me 
by being good listeners. I believe that these young men be- 
fore me will succeed, for 

"We all believe in Illinois; she's the state, 

With all the elements to make her groat — 

Younj? men, high hopes, proud dreams; 'tis yours to see 
Your state succeed to what a state should be." 



CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION. 



UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URBANA. 



WHO ARE ADMITTED 

Anybody who reads and speaks English and is sixteen 
years of age may be admitted to the College of Agriculture. 

CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION 

For graduates of accredited high schools and for students 
eighteen years of age there are no conditions, unless the per- 
son is deficient in English, when, if under twenty-one, he will 
be assigned to the Academy for that subject. If between 
sixteen and eighteen years of age and not a high-school grad- 
uate, he will take one-half his work in the Academy and the 
other half may be taken in agriculture. 

WHAT ADMISSION MEANS 

When a person is admitted under any of these plans, it 
means that all studies of the University as well as of the Col- 
lege of Agriculture are open to him in the same way as to any 
other University student. 

19 



20 

It means, too, that whether his stay be long or short he 
will obtain University credit for ivhatever he does, ivhether it be 
much or little, and this credit can be applied to gra.duation at 
any time the student may desire. 

WHAT CAN BE STUDIED 

Everything taught in the University is open to a student 
admitted to this College. The system is elective, and the 
student chooses his own work, under guidance and advice. 
The College of Agriculture alone offers over 100 courses, 
some elementary, others exceedingly diiScult. Naturally the 
student would take the more elementary courses first. 

WHAT CAN BE STUDIED AT ONCE 

After the student has been on the grounds he will be able 
to make his selection intelligently, but for his first guidance 
the list on page 26 is printed. It contains nothing that the 
student may not take the first year, and is thus a good list to 
choose from on entering. If he expects to stay a year or 
more, he would do well to choose chemistry as one of his 
studies. Under the United States law, all students take 
military drill. 

HOW MUCH CAN THE STUDENT TAKE 

After each study in the list is a number. A student may 
ordinarily take studies adding up to eighteen credit hours in 
each semester, or thirty-six in one year. Exceptional stu- 
dents may take a little more. 

WHO OUGHT TO GO 

Everybody who expects to live on the farm should go to 
this College, if only for a brief period. 

WHEN SHOULD HE COME 

At any time when it is possib: -, but the best time is at 
the opening of the school year. A good time is at the open- 
ing of any half semester, when new studies are started. 



21 

HOW T.ONG SHOULD HK STAY 

As long as circumstances permit. He should take a col- 
lege course and graduate, if possible, but he should come, if 
only for a half semester or even a month. 

IT IS A GOOD PLACE TO GO 

The elective system is in operation, and the student gets 
what he wants and is not required to take what he does not 
need. Whether his stay is long or short, whatever he does 
is thoroughly done, and he gets credit for what he accom- 
plishes. 

Many interesting experiments are in operation and plainly 
to be seen by the student. There is a staff of thirty-five 
teachers. The laboratory system is used, whereby the stu- 
dent does the work himself under the personal direction of 
the specialist. The College and Station own extensive labor- 
atories, well equipped, from 200 to 300 head of cattle, with 
horses, sheep and swine in proportion, extensive plantings in 
horticulture, and a complete agricultural and general library. 

Many important meetings are held at the College every 
year, and a two weeks' convention is held each winter, in Jan- 
uary, attended by leading farm.ers from all over the state, 
and addressed by men prominent in agriculture. This is 
known as the Corn Growers' and Stockmen's Convention and 
the Two Weeks' Course in Agriculture. The first two hours 
of the morning and all of the evening are given to the con- 
vention. During the remainder of the day, classes are con- 
ducted in stock-judging, corn- judging, farm mechanics, 
butter-making, and household science. 

NO DISTINCTION AMONG STUDENTS 

Some institutions discriminate against agricultural stu- 
dents. It is not so here. The University of Illinois is a 
democratic institution, and all classes of students are wel- 
come — engineering, and agricultural students, scientists, 



22 

literaries and lawyers, all mix without distinction. Every- 
body is happy and everybody is busy at the University of 
Illinois. 

OPPORTUNITIES EXCEPTIONAL 

It is generally conceded that this College offers courses 
in soils, crops, anima,! husbandry and horticulture second to 
those of no other institution. It is not so generally known 
that five men devote their entire time to dairy husbandry, 
and that butter-making is in progress throughout the year, 
offering unusual opportunities to students of dairying at any 
time they may find it convenient to come. 

WORK TAKEN IN THE UNIVERSITY 

Students in the College of Agriculture aiming to graduate 
take a little less than half their work in technical agriculture, 
unless they increase it by election. Certain other subjects 
as chemistry, English literature, military tactics, and phys- 
ical training are required; again a given number of credits 
must be elected from botany, zoology, geology, physics, and 
physiology, and any remaining credits are open electives from 
anything taught in the University. Briefly, a student in the 
College of Agriculture may take any subject taught in the 
University whenever he meets its conditions and is able to 
do the work. In these other subjects he receives the same 
instruction and enjoys the samae advantages as other students 
of the University. Special students not candidates for grad- 
uation take such subjects, agricultural or otherwise, as they 
prefer, except that holders of agricultural scholarships take 
at least half their work in technical agriculture. 

The University offers work in the following studies: 
Agriculture, Anthropology, Architecture, Art and Design, 
Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, 
Drawing, Economics, Electrical Engineering, English Lan- 
guage, French, Geology, German, Greek, History, Italian, 
Latin, Law, Library Science, Mathematics, Mechanical 
Engineering, Mechanics, Mineralogy, Municipal and Sanitary 



23 

Engineering, Music, Paleontology, Pedagogy, Philosophy, 
Physical Training, Physics, Physiography, Physiology, Psy- 
chology, Railway Engineering, Rhetoric and Oratory, Span- 
ish, Training for Business, and Zoology. 

SCHOLARSHIPS IN xiGRICULTURE AND HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE 

The University offers every year to each county in the 
State, except Cook and Lake, and to each of the first ten 
congressional districts, one scholarship for prospective stu- 
dents of agriculture in the College of Agriculture and one for 
prospective students of Household Science in the College of 
Literature and Arts, the College of Science, or the College 
of Agriculture. 

Appointments are made by the Trustees of the University 
to scholarships in Agriculture upon the recommendation of 
the executive committee of the Illinois Farmers' Institute, and 
to scholarships in Household Science upon the recommenda- 
tion of the County Domestic Science Associations. Young 
men under 16 years of age and young women under 18 years 
of age and those who have already attended the University 
are not eligible. Acceptable candidates, residents of counties 
or districts for which appointments have been made, may be 
assigned to counties or districts not yet represented. 

The scholarsliips are good for two years and relieve the 
holders from the payment of the matriculation fee, $10.00, 
and the incidental fee, $24.00 a year. The term of a scholar- 
ship may be extended four years, if, before it expires, the 
holder satisfies in full the requirements for admission to the 
freshman class of the college in which he is enrolled. 

EXPENSES 

What will it cost? This is an important question with 
every one, and with some it settles the possibility of a college 
course. The best estimate is about as follows: 

1. Matriculation fee, paid once $10.00 

2. Graduation fee, paid once 5.00 



24 

3.. Incidental fee, for half year 12.00 

4. Tuition fee, in University for half year 7.50 

5. Tuition fee, in Academy for half year 7.50 

6. Laboratory fees, vary from nothing to 10.00 

7. Room rent, each student, two in room, per year, $35.00 to 65.00 

8. Board, per year 90.00 to 126.00 

9. Vf ashing-, per year 12.00 to 18.00 

10. Books, from nothing to 10.00 

N. B. Only regular students pay 1 and 2; only special 
students pay 4. Holders of scholarships do not pay either 1, 
3 or 4. Laboratory fees apply to but few subjects and are 
light except in chemistry. Books are to be had at reduced 
rates, and are often sold to succeeding classes. 

Work, — No regular labor can be guaranteed to students, 
yet many do get some employment about the University or 
in the adjacent cities. 

For all necessary expenses of the year, the average stu- 
dent is not likely to live for less than $275.00 or $300.00. 

There is a large number of suitable private places in 
Urbana and Champaign, within walking distance of the Uni- 
versity, where students can obtain table board and room. 
There are several students' clubs at which the cost of meals 
is about three dollars a week. 

THE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 

The Young Men's and Young "Women's Christian Asso- 
ciations have come to occupy a prominent place in the Uni- 
versity life. Both are affiliated with the World's Student 
Christian Federation. Each association employs for full 
time a general secretary. 

The Association House furnishes free for the use of all 
students reading room, library, parlors, piano, magazines 
and papers, correspondence table, and telephone— a college 
home. 

Religious meetings for men are held on Sunday mornings, 
for women on Thursday afternoons; and for both men and 
women on Monday evenings. There are frequent meetings 
for the promotion of social intercourse and good fellowship. 

A most helpful feature of the V70rk is that in the interest 
of new students at the opening of the school year. Desirable 



25 

rooms and boarding places <vrc found and lists posted for 
reference at the Association House. Representatives of the 
Association meet the trains, assist students in finding satis- 
factory locations, and endeavor in every way to make them 
feel at home. The employment bureau helps to find work. 

A copy of the Students' Hand-Book, containing a map 
of the cities, and giving inform.ation about Urbana and 
Champaign, the University, and the various college organi- 
zations and activities, will be sent free to pi-ospective 
students. 

For this Hand-Book, address the General Secretary of 
either Association. 

AGRICULTURAL CLUB 

This club meets weekly. It is devoted to the discussion 
of topics of theoretical and practical interest to students of 
agriculture. All students connected with the University are 
eligible to membership. 

The College of Agriculture will at all times welcome re- 
quests for further information whether presented in person 
or by letter. Address, 

Eugene Davenport, Dean, 

College of Agriculture, 

or 

Fred H. Rankin, Supt., 

Agricultural College Extension, 

Urbana, Illinois. 



26 
FIRST SEMESTER 

First Half: Septembek 17— Novem- Second IIai-f: November 19~Jant:- 

BER 16. ART 25. 

Drainage - 2^ Power Machinery 3 

Field Machinery - 3 Meat - ZVs 

Farm Crops— Corn Judging 2)4 Beef Cattle— Judging 2!4 

Elements of Stock Feeding 1 P"'eeding and Care of Dairy Herd SVs 

Dairy Cattle— Judging 2% Plant Propagation 2Vi 

Stable Management— Horses lYst Milk - 3 

Cheddar Cheese 3 Bacteria and Allied Organisms 1 

Milk - 3 Elements of Stock Feeding 1 

Beef Cattle— Judging 2H Sheep 234 

Breeding, Rearing of Horses 1 

Geology --1 

Full Semester: September 17— 
January 25. 

Injurious Insects 2 

Fruit Growing 5 

Plant Houses 5 

General Horticulture 5 

Home Sanitation 2 

Textiles 2 

Animal Diseases 5 

Medicines.- 5 

Chemistry 5 

Botany 5 

English 5 

History 5 

Mathematics -5 

Physics 5 

SECOND SEMESTER 

First Half: jANUARy 2S— April 3. Second Half; April6— June 7. 

Crop Production iVi Drainage iVs 

Market Classes of Horses 2^/4 Farm Machinery 2!4 

Beef Production 2?^ Spraying 2i4 

Butter Making 3 Farmers' Institute Management 1 

Fancy Cheese 2^4 

City Milk Supply 254 

Full Semester: January 28— June 7. 

Swine 5 

Farm Buildings and Fences -5 

Small Fruits 2 

Vegetable Gardening 3 

Home Decoration 2 

Selection of Food. S 

Personal and Public H y giene - - 1 

Animal Diseases .5 

Medicines 5 

Geology 5 

Chemistry 5 

Botany 5 

Zoology 5 

English 5 

History -5 

Mathematics 5 

Physics 5 

Note: The above list shows studies open to any student regular or special 
upon entering. He will choose an amount aggregating approximately 18. and will be 
guided in his choice by his personal preference and needs and by the counsel of the 
faculty. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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